The new lot

Did I mention we still haven't actually closed on that lot yet?  

Brian, Yuliya and I helped Laura measure the lot which we hoped to buy.  We happily discovered enough slope to allow placement of the garage underneath the relocated home.  No external garage will help reduce costs, preserve green space, and reduce snow shoveling with a shorter driveway!

Credit union and bank were both eagerly helpful at first, but then the unseen institutions backing them up started getting skittish because we were neither building a new home or buying an existing one.  Delay, delay... then at last our local heroine Teri cut through some beauracracy at the bank, the log jam broke, and we closed on the lot Tuesday, 9/9.  ("Nein, nein?"   Should vee be heedink ziss varning?!)

So, anyway, Wednesday, regretfully, we had the grand old box elder in the middle of the lot cut down.  We called in the excavating company Friday.  You remember Friday, the day the long summer drought broke with 36 hours of rain?  So instead they dug Monday.  Tuesday the movers put the wheels under the house.

Thursday Sept. 25 the cementers poured the concrete footings, which must be at least four feet underground to support the whole foundation below the frost line.  Monday they're pouring the concrete frost wall below the garage door, then they'll backfill soil around it so the movers can roll the house over this buried wall.

We are very pleased with the thick layer of topsoil which has built up over the centuries under this lot's grasslands, pasture and orchards.

Matching the plans, everyone's understanding of the plans, and the actual elevations on the ground has been a challenge.  We are all united in the goal, however, of keeping water flowing toward the storm sewer at the end of the driveway, rather than toward the garage!